The present invention relates to a method and system for accumulating call specific data for network communication and analyzing that data for a variety of purposes, for example to identify network traffic patterns, to identify specific types of users, etc.
The written description uses a large number of acronyms to refer to various services, messages and system components. Although generally known, use of several of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of this discussion, acronyms therefore will be defined as follows:
Address Complete Message (ACM)
Advanced-Intelligent Network (AIN)
Asynchronous Digital Signal Line (ADSL)
ANswer Message (ANM)
Application Service Part (ASP)
Automatic Message Accounting (AMA)
Automatic Number Identification (ANI)
BellCore AMA Format (BAF)
Carrier Access Billing System (CABS)
Call Processing Record (CPR)
Call Detail Record (CDR)
Carrier Identification Code (CIC)
Centi-Call Second (CCS)
Central Office (CO)
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC)
Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS)
Common Language Location Identifier (CLLI)
Comma Separated Values (CSV)
Customer Record Information System (CRIS)
Destination Point Code (DPC)
End Office (EO)
Engineering and Administrative Data Acquisition System (EADAS)
Executive Information System (EIS)
Fill In Signal Unit (FISU)
First-In, First-Out (FIFO)
Global Title Translation (GTT)
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML)
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Initial Address Message (IAM)
Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP)
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
ISDN User Part (ISDN-UP or ISUP)
Inter-exchange Carrier (IXC)
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Landing Zone (LZ)
Line Identification Data Base (LIDB)
Link Service Signaling Unit (LSSU)
Local Exchange Carrier (LEC)
Loop Maintenance Operations Systems (LMOS)
Main Station (MS)
Message Processing Server (MPS)
Message Signaling Unit (MSU)
Message Transfer Part (MTP)
Multi-Dimensional DataBase (MDDB)
Multi-Services Application Platform (MSAP)
Network Administration Center (NAC)
Numbering Plan Area (NPA)
Office Equipment (OE)
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
Origination Point Code (OPC)
Operations, Maintenance Application Part (OMAP)
Percentage Internet Usage (PIU)
Personal Computer (PC)
Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN)
Release Complete Message (RLC)
Release Message (REL)
Revenue Accounting Office (RAO)
Service Control Point (SCP)
Service Switching Point (SSP)
Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
Signaling Link Selection (SLC)
Signaling System 7 (SS7)
Signaling Point (SP)
Signaling Transfer Point (STP)
Structured Query Language (SQL)
Transaction Capabilities Applications Part (TCAP)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
An essential problem in optimizing a telecommunications network is balancing equipment and trunking against service and cost. Network design involves predicting future demand based on past results, evaluating the capacity of equipment and facilities, and providing the correct amount of capacity in the proper configuration, in time to meet service objectives. Since virtually every element of a telecommunications system is subject to failure or overload effective testing, monitoring, control, and maintenance is essential to obtain an acceptable level of performance.
Rapid changes and increases in demand for telecommunication services increase the pressures for cost effective engineering and upgrading of the telephone network. Two examples of particular concern relate to Internet access traffic and what is now referred to as xe2x80x9cCLECxe2x80x9d traffic.
The sudden increase in popularity of access to the Internet has radically changed the loading placed on the telephone network. Normal voice telephone calls tend to occur at random times, and the network typically routes the majority of such calls to random destinations. Also, the average hold times for such calls tend to be short, e.g. three minutes. By contrast Internet traffic tends to have severe peak traffic times during any given twenty-four hour period, e.g. from 8:00PM to 11:00PM. Also, the network must route Internet access calls to a very small number of destinations, i.e. to the lines for modem pools operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Instead of many parties calling each other randomly, many callers are all calling in to a limited number of service providers. Finally, hold times for Internet calls can last for hours. Some Internet users access the Internet when they sit down at the desk and leave the call connection up until they decide to turn their computers off, e.g. at the end of their day. If they leave their computers on all the time, the connections to the ISPs may stay up for days. These Internet traffic patterns add incredibly heavy traffic loads to the telephone network and tend to concentrate those loads in specific offices providing service to the ISPs.
Another new demand burdening the local exchange carrier (LEC) relates to traffic to and from a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). The LEC must provide tandem capacity and trunking to the CLEC exchanges, to carry the new traffic in transit between the two carriers"" networks. The CLECs demand that the LEC provide sufficient capacity to minimize blockages on calls to and from the CLEC networks. Disputes also arise over the amount and direction of such traffic, for example, as it relates to billing and compensation issues.
Adding end offices, specialized switching modules, trunks, tandem offices and the like to meet new demands such as those of Internet access and CLEC interconnection requires considerable expense. Accurate engineering, to minimize cost and yet provide effective service to the various customers, becomes ever more essential. To provide effective engineering, it is necessary that the LEC understand the traffic involved. Such understanding requires accurate and complete traffic measurement. Accurate information also is necessary to resolve disputes, for example with the ISPs over service quality or with CLECs over compensation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,732 issued to Eugene Pester Dec. 12, 1995, for Common Channeling Signaling Network Maintenance and Testing, describes an SS7 Network Preventative Maintenance System for detecting potential SS7 and switched network troubles, automatically analyzing the troubles, and providing alarm and corrective action to avoid major network events. The Pester SS7 Real Time Monitor System described in that patent is a multi-stage SS7 network preventative maintenance tool that detects potential SS7 and switched network troubles, automatically analyzes those troubles, and provides alarm and corrective action instructions to maintenance personnel in time to avoid a major network event. This is accomplished by placing real time SS7 monitors on links at the Signal Transfer Points (STPs).
Information on exceeded Link Load, exceeded Message Signaling Unit (MSU) frequency and Network Management status/error conditions is passed to a Stage 1 controller or process. The Stage 1 process controls link monitors capable of monitoring upwards of 32 link monitors at a single STP. The monitors perform preliminary link analysis on error conditions. If the monitors identify trouble on any of the links, alarm information is sent to a Stage 2 controller or process via the Stage 1 process. The Stage 2 process controls all Stage 1 and associated monitors from an STP pair. If Stage 2 determines that there is an STP pair network trouble, it generates alarm and corrective action information and passes it to the Stage 3 controller or process. The Stage 3 process controls all Stage 2 controllers or processes in the operating company. If Stage 3 determines that there is potential or real company network trouble, it generates alarm and corrective action information and display signals on maintenance terminals in the company""s SS7 control center. Stage 3 also alerts the Stage 4 controller process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,530 issued to Brockman et al (Brockman) on Jan. 7, 1997 for Telephone Switch Dual Monitors, relates to testing and monitoring systems for evaluating the operations of telephone switches and more particularly to monitoring systems which are arranged to capture data between nodes of a telephone switching system where the data flows between mated nodes, as in an SS7 common channel signaling network. The Brockman et al. Patent indicates that it is often the case that the messages going from switch A to switch B travel one route on the network, while the messages going from switch B to switch A travel a different route. The network surveillance equipment that monitors the link is designed to capture and correlate as much signaling information as possible regarding network activity. Because of the different paths that messages may take, data relating to a subscriber""s phone number may be all in one STP, or split partially in one STP and partially in the other STP of the mated pair xe2x80x9cwhich may be in a different city.xe2x80x9d Brockman et al. therefore attempt to capture all of the SS7 messages within a mated pair and correlate the fragmented SS7 messages for each monitored call. The system is capable of generating call detail records from the SS7 messages of a mated pair cluster, for use in billing and fraud detection. The Brockman et al. Patent goes on to indicate a need for telephone monitoring systems which enable a user to implement a call trace mechanism, which can track all SS7 messages associated with a particular phone number in order to retroactively trace harassing or obscene phone calls.
While the above discussed Pester and Brockman et al. Patents describe the usefulness of monitors in an SS7 common channel interoffice signaling network for event detection, neither of these patents is directed to the particular problems of traffic measurement addressed by the present invention. The Pester Patent places emphasis on monitoring of the SS7 network itself in order to detect troubles in its functioning. SS7 link monitors are utilized on each SS7 link in the illustrated depiction of that system. The Brockman et al. Patent focuses on monitoring of all links to the STPs in a pair and the assembly of related SS7 signaling messages comprising a record of call completions.
While these methodologies may be effective for their stated purposes there remains a distinct need for an efficient and effective tool for monitoring and analyzing types of traffic through the telephone network. Attempts to use other more traditional approaches, such as the accumulation of data from the switches themselves and the Engineering and Administrative Data Acquisition System (EADAS), fell short of providing the desired information.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a relatively low cost solution to those problems.
It is another object of the invention to provide a timely, powerful, cost effective means of analyzing traffic on the Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN).
It is a further object of the invention to provide a flexible, expedient, accurate, and cost effective method to identify individual high usage lines contributing to network blockage.
It is another object of the invention to provide a tandem trunk planning resource which will accommodate future tandem switch growth respondent to customer calling patterns, communities of interest and points of origin and destination.
It is yet another object of the invention to implement Internet Service Provider, (ISP) studies and enable better service to ISP customers while maintaining optimal network utilization.
The invention addresses the above stated needs by providing effective techniques for tracking traffic through a telecommunication network. In this case, the invention particularly emphasizes techniques for preparing call records from the network, compiled in a database, for on-line analytical processing.
Thus, in one aspect, the invention relates to a method of preparing network call management data for traffic analysis. As discussed more later, the call management data comprises messages normally generated for the carrier""s purposes, during network operations, such as interoffice signaling messages and billing or accounting information. This method accesses detail records for calls through a telecommunication network, recorded in a table of a database. At least one item of information in each record is translated, using reference data regarding the telecommunication network. For any calls that extend over two or more predetermined time intervals, the processing involves binning usage data from the detail records for those calls in accord with actual usage within each interval. Based on the results of the translating and binning, enhanced detail records are formatted for use in an on-line analytical processing program.
The translation using reference data typically converts certain codes in the records into descriptive information. For example, this operation may convert interoffice signaling network address information or portions of telephone numbers into descriptive identifiers for a serving central office of the network. Traffic analysis often involves understanding the amounts of traffic through parts of the network during different hours of the day. Many calls extend over two or more hours, particularly data calls involving Internet access or the like. The binning operation effectively spreads the usage data of the record for such a call, to allocate the appropriate amount of usage time to each hour in which there was a portion of the call still in progress.
A study for analyzing traffic through a telecommunication network, utilizing the inventive data preparation, involves compiling detail records for a predetermined set of calls processed through the telecommunication network. The calls of the set are identified by parameters of the particular study, and the records are loaded into pre-defined files in a database. The inventive data preparation enhances the detail records from this database and uploads the enhanced information to the on-line analytical processing routine. An application runs in the on-line analytical processing routine to present study results from the enriched information. The executed application corresponds to the study. In the preferred embodiment, there are a number of predefined applications, for several different types of studies. A user selects and runs the application for the desired type of study. Preferably, the data preparation operation is specifically adapted to the particular study application.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to a system for tracking traffic through a telecommunication network. The system utilizes records for calls processed by the telecommunication network. The system includes a relational database receiving and storing the call records from the network, a data preparation system for processing call records from the relational database, and an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) system. The preferred OLAP system includes a multidimensional database and a presentation layer. The data preparation system comprises executable code for causing a computer system to perform a series of preparation steps. The first such step involves accessing the call records in the relational database. At least one item of information in each record is translated, using reference data regarding the telecommunication network. The preparation system also bins calls. Specifically, for any calls processed by the telecommunication network extending over two or more predetermined time intervals, the system bins usage data from the call records for those calls in accord with actual usage within each interval. For example, the system allocates the appropriate portion of usage to each hour interval that includes a portion of the call. Based on the results of the translating and binning, the translation system formats enhanced call records and supplies the enhanced call records to the on-line analytical processing program.
In the preferred embodiment, the on-line analytical processing program comprises a multi-dimensional database and a presentation layer. The presentation layer implements a web suite type user interface or a client server interface, for analyzing and accessing the study results. The presentation layer may be part of an integrated MDDB package or an independent program. The presentation layer offers the user fast and flexible access as opposed to limited query results or static, predefined reports. The data preparation system uploads an expanded table containing the records with the enriched information. The data preparation system may generate one or more summary tables, for use by a particular study application running in the on-line analytical processing system.
The present invention may provide traffic tracking for any of a variety of different types of networks. However, the preferred embodiments track traffic through a switched call processing network, such as a carrier""s network of the public switching telephone network. Such a network includes switching offices, providing selective call connections to links serving subscribers. Many such networks produce a variety of call management data messages for normal call processing and/or accounting, which may be monitored or accumulated for use in the traffic tracking studies of the present invention.
The translation functions involved in data preparation are particularly useful in enhancing data for study of traffic through a telephone network. Thus, another aspect of the invention relates to a method for preparing data from one of the detailed records of calls processed through a switched telephone network. Here, the method includes accessing the record and obtaining an item of information from that record. An external database is accessed, to obtain mapping information regarding the switched telephone network. Using the mapping information, the method translates the item of information to descriptive information, e.g. the translation maps a code from the record to a descriptive identifier for a switching office, a particular customer, an office equipment number, etc.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention utilize real time monitors on selected SS7 links to collect interoffice signaling messages. A site processor compiles data from the signaling messages relating to individual calls, to form call detail records (CDRs) for all interoffice call attempts. The site processor uploads the CDRs to a central server. Automatic Message Accounting (AMA) records also are accumulated for at least selected central office switching systems and uploaded to a server. The servers maintain two relational databases, one for the CDRs derived from the signaling data, the other for the AMA based call data sets. Data from the two relational databases is processed or xe2x80x98preparedxe2x80x99 and uploaded to a multi-dimensional database. The multi-dimensional database provides on-line analytical processing tools for enhanced processing of the call data and offers an efficient graphical user interface, preferably a web suite type interface.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.